Finbarr Bermingham
Chief Europe Correspondent
Finbarr Bermingham is the Chief Europe Correspondent at SCMP, specialising in geopolitics, geoeconomics and EU-China relations. He has spent the last five years reporting from Brussels and around Europe on rising bilateral tensions, Europe's place in the shifting world order, diplomacy, trade and EU politics. Previously based in Hong Kong for seven years, he covered China’s trade and economy. He has also worked in London and South Korea.
Finbarr Bermingham is the Chief Europe Correspondent at SCMP, specialising in geopolitics, geoeconomics and EU-China relations. He has spent the last five years reporting from Brussels and around Europe on rising bilateral tensions, Europe's place in the shifting world order, diplomacy, trade and EU politics. Previously based in Hong Kong for seven years, he covered China’s trade and economy. He has also worked in London and South Korea.
Areas of Expertise:
EU-China, geopolitics, global tradeLanguages Spoken:
English
Vice-minister delivered a letter to Taipei’s representatives urging name change before October 1, Lithuanian news portal reports.
Brussels is planning to revive the talks before the end of the year despite a series of blows to transatlantic relations.
Beijing warns of swift counterstrikes while Brussels readies fast-track export bans just weeks after striking deal.
Europe welcomes Democratic landslide, but fears over Ukraine, trade disputes and defence spending mute optimism.
Advertisement
Industry groups and firms say a new EU tool is regulatory overreach, and it could drive up costs and force them into impossible decisions.
Top officials will visit the Chinese capital in the coming months in a bid to persuade Beijing to revalue the yuan, according to sources.
EU trade chief says bloc may turn to safeguards to curb surges in imports and names plastics as a sector where investigations are advanced.
Beijing offers to remove restrictions on a German supplier to chipmaking giant ASML in exchange for the EU delisting Chinese firm Yusha.
As European officials flag more trade restrictions, Beijing bristles at the idea it can be pushed into yielding to Brussels’ demands.
Emboldened by a recent hybrid car deal, Brussels is accelerating a crackdown on Chinese trade practices with a new tool that threatens to lock Chinese firms out of the European market overnight.
Latest flare-up suggests danger of trade war between two of the world’s three biggest economies has far from de-escalated.
European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen also floats safeguards as member states back two-track strategy to tackle China shock.
Brussels is revving the engines and ready to accelerate a crackdown on Chinese trade practices after Beijing responds to its threats.
Brussels plans new measures to confront trade imbalances even after a surprise deal with Beijing to limit Chinese hybrid car imports.
Agreement, praised on both sides, features controls on Chinese EV shipments and tariff reductions, helping to cool tensions – for now.
EU officials spoke of a ‘paradigm shift’ in wake of surprise trade deal, saying the ‘nature of the rebalancing exercise has changed’.
Europe grapples with whether efforts to protect its industry from China mirror the US policies it previously railed against.
The agreement will see Chinese hybrid vehicle exports decline by ‘several million cars’ in the coming years, EU trade chief says.
Trip coincides with Merz’s Asia tour as Berlin and Paris advocate new EU mechanism to exclude rule-breaking trade partners.
Report calls Beijing an ‘existential threat’ to industry and urges naval exercises around Taiwan Strait.
Brussels hopes Chinese commerce ministry will agree to modest ‘proof-of-concept’ arrangement at top-level meetings in Beijing.
Strategy laid out in joint paper and letter to EU chief signed by the leaders of the two largest members of the bloc and seen by the SCMP.
Bloc’s trade enforcement chief says the system is already picking up what may be worrying trends in a range of product categories.
The mood in Brussels is hardening and Europe’s actions in coming weeks could set the course of EU-China relations for years to come.
Brussels officials hold talks in the Chinese capital as they seek a commitment to reduce surging exports to the bloc.
As Brussels continues its push to rebalance ties, the latest data show China’s trade surplus expanded over all but three EU members in July.
AI race contender’s decision to offer GLM-5.2 a sign of how European political and commercial incentives can pull in different directions.
Chinese justice and commerce ministries order the ban in a joint statement condemning ‘undue extraterritorial jurisdiction measures’.
The recent row over migration and Spain’s border policy suggests it may be hard for the bloc to stand together under pressure from Beijing.
